Little Black Book
by linked-pinkies
Summary: Santana Lopez is one whose heart belongs to no one but herself. She believes that physical desire should never be more than for fun, for power, for her little black book. What happens when a quirky, kind-hearted dancer comes storming into her life?
1. Collision

**Author's Note: I had** s**tarted this story for National Novel Writing Month in November and then forgotten about it but recently I opened it up to look at it. I edited it up and decided to dust it off and post it for you guys to check out. Enjoy!**

My life was good, you know? I was fine with the way my world turned out to be. My family was good. My grades were above average...most of the time. I had a lot friends and they were good...ish. I was at the top of the social ladder at school. Head cheerio. Top bad ass. I could have anyone with a swish of my hips, a wink or with one flash of the trademark Santana smirk. The students of this school were under my thumb. I could squish them at any moment and everyone knew that. People feared me. I had power to do as I pleased and no one would stop me. I liked it that way. I liked my life, even if it wasn't a fairy tale. It was comfortable. It was just fine the way it was.

Then with one pivotal moment it all changed. _She_ showed up.

-/-/-/-/-

"Can we just leave already?" I groaned, looking at Quinn through her vanity mirror.

It was Monday morning and I had spent the night over at her house. So, obviously I figured it would be easiest if we were to drive to school together. One car, less money to spend on gas, we could talk or whatever. Simple plan, right? The problem was Quinn had a tendency to get ready in slow motion. I had been ready to go for half an hour and still she was situated in front of the mirror. I wouldn't mind if she was actually doing something that needed to be done, but it was ridiculous the amount of time it took her to put on makeup, especially when we put on the same amount. "No amount of makeup is going to be able to cover up the fact that you were born butt ugly... so can we just leave already?"

Quinn didn't flinch at my comment. The only reason I knew she heard me was from the subtle raise of her perfectly manicured eyebrow. Trademark Quinn move. The eyebrow raise. She continued applying her eyeliner in silence as I rolled over on her bed with a loud, exasperated groan. I should have driven here in my car so I wouldn't have to wait for her... Rookie mistake...one I seemed to make every time I came here.

"You can only blame yourself for the time I'm taking. You're the one who insisted on being out until three in the morning. These red eyes," she pointed at them for emphasis, "with bags the size of your ego are _your_ fault and they will take time to fix."

I rolled my eyes and gave a dismissive wave of my hand. I looked fine and I was out until the same time as her so she just needed to toughen up. I had dragged Quinn out of her room last night because she was started to look pitiful and that was no help for our reputations. I would not be caught dead with my supposed best friend acting like a wussy niner. She kept moping around, whining about losing that dope of a boyfriend, Finn Hudson. She could be like a normal high school girl and blink her eyes and go for the next one in sight, but no. She had to be some psycho freak about it and obsess. She was focusing all her time on formulating plans to get him back from Rachel Berry. First off, the man was obviously insane to dump her, being as she is one of the hottest girls in school. Second off, he must be a maniac to want to be with Rachel Berry. The girl was a freak of nature. No one with one ounce of sense in their bodies would date her. Both of them were a waste of space, if you asked me though.

Quinn always was drilling me about finding a boy I really liked and dating him, but she was one of the key reasons I didn't. Nothing funny like I was in love with her, but because what she was like when she was 'in love'. Every time I witnessed people who were supposedly 'in love', including Quinn, they never looked happy. They looked caged and pathetic. They never looked heart-warming and sappy to me. That was only on movies and television shows. In real life, they were content at most. All I had to do was look at my parents and my thoughts were even more certain on its stand against love. They would kiss each other before and after work. My mami would sit silently beside my papa at dinner. My mami would cook and clean and mi papa would work and sleep. It was like a routine and nothing more. No one looked happy in love. Why would you want that? Quinn would never change my mind on that.

That was why I thought Quinn's obsession with Finn and being in love was completely ridiculous. Since they were broken up, I took the one chance I had. So, I took Quinn out to a party that I had told Puck to put on. I would get her out of the house and have a good time myself. Win win situation. And of course because it was a Santana Lopez plan, it worked. Quinn was drunk after a few wine coolers (_pathetic, right?_) and having a good time. I even thought she might have hooked up with Puck but being the prude she is that thought quickly left my mind. But whatever she and him were up to, she was smiling afterwards, no thought of Frankenteen.

Now after getting her out of her junk at the part last night and me doing my part as the womanizer, our reps would be in perfect shape for school.

"Ready," Quinn stated as she calmly put her eyeliner down on her dresser.

"For what? High school ended three years ago," I remarked, being as snarky as ever. Regardless I got up and grabbed my Cheerios bag and my backpack. After lugging these things around all day, it was no surprise we were in such good shape.

"And to think everyone says you're a bitch..." Quinn mumbled sarcastically.

I laughed and exited her room. Quinn loved me and she knew it. She was probably as good as a best friend as I could get. We had an understanding. We wanted to the same thing and that worked out for us. It was our common dominator. Our eyes were set on the same prize and we owned the Lima High by teaming up. If we ever broke our friendship the school would turn into a battlefield...

Quinn and I rushed to her car as the early morning autumn air bit at our bare ankles. This was not the time of year that the Cheerios outfits were good for. Most cheerleaders wouldn't need to wear their uniforms all the time but Sue demanded that we do. It was a symbol of pride. We didn't have any problem with it either. It showed our superiority. People longed for Cheerios uniforms and lettermen's jackets. Once you had that, you had a chance in high school. Without it, you were doomed.

I pulled my Cheerios jacket tighter around me, trying to collect as much heat as I could as I slipped into Quinn's Ford Focus.

"So, who'd you land up with last night?" Quinn asked with a bit of an edge to her voice. She was trying to hide her judgemental nature with a voice of curiosity.

"Who says 'I landed up with anyone'? I don't go to parties to immediately jump into someone's pants." I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at the blonde viciously. Just because there was a crowd of boys and I was there didn't necessarily mean that I would sleep with one of them. Phft. Whatever.

Quinn laughed sardonically. "Spill it."

I rolled my eyes, but let her assumption go. After all, she was kind of right. "Matt. He was all over me like a puppy desperate for a home. I finally gave in. Pretty sure I just made his year."

Quinn shook her head with a small smile on her lips. "I don't know why those guys all sleep with you. You're like that girl from that stupid show you're always watching-Jersey shore. "After I have sex with a guy I will rip their heads off." I'm surprised they aren't scared you'll kill them in bed or something..."

"They'd die happily," I replied smugly, propping my feet up on the dash, smearing the mud that was on the bottom of my shoes all over it.

Quinn just rolled her eyes and turned silent. Slowly an odd expression began to take over her face. It was like she was in a deep concentration. After a minute or two her hands wound tightly around the steering wheel as if she was about to crash or something. She looked stressed.

"What's up, buttercup?" I asked nonchalantly, shoving my hands in front of the car heater.

"Hmm?" Quinn asked, almost jumping from out of her skin at the sound of my voice.

"You look constipated or something. What's wrong?" I asked with narrowing eyes.

Quinn's eyes hardened and she quickly looked away from me. "My head hurts, that's all. I should have said no to you and your stupid plan to drink and be merry last night," she snarled defensively at me. Her words were icy and actually sent a chill down _my_ spine. Quinn the snow queen is here. Exit the premise for your own safety.

"Right. Whatever. Tell me what's wrong when you want to." I mumbled, looking out the window. I knew something was wrong, but I understood not wanting to talk about certain things... We all had our dark secrets...

Quinn quickly changed the subject off herself and decided to drill me. "So...when you going to stop jumping from guy to guy and keep one for, you know, at least a week?" Way to be supportive, bestie.

"I'm seventeen. I'm not looking for marriage, grandma." I spat at her. I was tired of this talk. I swore she brought it up like every month. Date a boy, Santana. It's good for you. You're not going to find happiness sleeping with every guy. You'll only find STDs. Yeah, like going out with some idiot in this dump was going to find me happiness. It obviously wasn't working for her. I was perfectly happy how I was: single and ready to mingle.

I liked it the way I had it anyways. I made of a hobby out of it. Maybe it was a sick hobby, or unhealthy or whatever, but it was fun. I had a list. Think about when high class prostitutes keep a list of all their clients. Some of those girls would keep those names down for blackmail. Some would have pictures or videos. It was kind of like that except I didn't do it for money. I picked who I pleased and then wrote their name down on my list. It wasn't only who I slept with. Any guy I kissed, dated, slept with, whatever would land up being on my list. Once they were on that list I knew I had them forever. I could go back if I wanted or I could get whatever I wanted out of them. They would just hope for another Santana Lopez experience, which they may or may not get again. It was perfect.

I had begun the list on my first year of high school. It started with kissing, then making out, second base, third base and finally bam a homerun. I was good at it and the boys would swarm around me. I figured I could use this as power. How did the media get power? They took what they could get and twisted it to meet their needs. That's what I could do. It was especially fun because eventually rumours were being passed around about my list. Particularly because they had heard that I had rating in the book. How good was Puck at kissing? You could find it in my little black book. How good was Finn at getting down and dirty doing the deed? Find the book and you'll find it (though I had no problem with telling everyone that he was awful and it was the truth.)People were _reeling_. They needed to know what they were in the little black book of mine. If they weren't begging for a peek at the book, they were fighting to be in it. The book surprisingly did wonders on keeping me at the top of the school.

Before that, I had only thought of my list as a book of activities to do when I was bored. It kind of gave me a purpose and an importance in the school. Why not keep it going? I figured it was a hell of a lot more fun than running after some douche bag, begging and pleading with him to love me forever. I wasn't one of those girls and I never wanted to be. Quinn could be one if she wanted to...

Quinn didn't like my hobby, but then again, she was a prude. I didn't give a crap what she thought. She was all being holy than thou but when it came to scandals and hurting people she was all up for it. She was packed full of double standards. I wasn't. I did whatever I wanted. End of story.

Quinn didn't push me anymore on the subject because she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere. Her goal had just been to get the conversation off of her. We remained silent for the rest of the drive.

The silence disappeared the moment our car doors opened at school though. The Cheerios swarmed like bees around us, talking faster than lightning about all the new rumours. I noticed the absence of the rumour that should have been the juiciest: Finn and Quinn breaking up. I watched as the overly curious Cheerios reined themselves in, trying to keep the subject off it, but throwing not so subtle glances at Quinn. They were hungry for details that I knew they would never get.

I ignored their pointless babbling and headed into the school. Sighing as they began to follow me, I speed up, almost into a jog. They were like leeches... I looked over my head after I turned a corner in the hallway, seeing if I had lost them and left them with Quinn. I smiled in satisfaction as I saw I had gained a lot of space, I turned back quickly to keep walking. That didn't happen though. My body collided painfully with another, resulting in us flying to the floor and a stream of curses flew out of my mouth.

The hallway fell silent. An eerie silence that only happened when you knew something bad was coming. It was the calm before the storm. Someone had gotten in the way of Santana Lopez.

I took a deep breath, breathing in the taste of anger like it was an airborne virus. It filled my lungs and I sat up, in a snapping motion, preparing myself to attack whoever was in front of me. Whether a geeky freshmen or senior football player, they were dead. Before I had time to launch myself at the victim, I was stuck in the grip of someone. I froze. What was happening?

Hands gripped both my shoulders, not in a rough way to fight but in a supportive way to help me up. I blinked. A face was in front of mine. Not even inches away. It was literally like one inch away from mine, so close my eyes were having trouble focusing. What the hell?

"Aw, crap, Lord Tubbington was right... I did bump into a tall, dark stranger..." The face in front of me mumbled sadly.

I blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the close figure. For once I was too stunned to start going all 'Lima Heights' on her ass. All I could smell was skittles and grape soda. It was fruity and mouth watering.

"Although, you really aren't that tall, are you?" The person said in a teasing tone, squeezing my shoulder gently, probably trying to get my attention. It worked, apparently. The small touch made me jump as it sent tingles down my vertebra. It sent me straight back two feet. Far enough to get out of the grasp of the mysterious skittle-smelling, nonsense-speaking, stranger.

Once I was on my feet, I saw a tall, thin, blonde girl with big blue, innocent eyes dressed in overly colourful clothing. Who was she? I didn't know this girl. I searched my mind frantically, trying to place this girl's face. I knew everyone. Maybe not their names, but I knew everyone faces; losers or popular kids alike. I made sure of it. But I did not recognize this girl. And for some reason, I thought I would have remembered that face.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Her voice was warm and sweet like melting chocolate. Something told me this girl ate too many candies.

I stood staring in a trance, mystified for reasons unknown to me. I quickly ripped myself out of that trance when I heard people begin to whisper around me. Instantly I knew what everyone was gossiping about. I hadn't killed her yet. I was about to open my mouth but her eyes caught mine. They were blue. But not like normal light blue. They were dark blue like the deep part of the ocean. They met my brown ones easily. They were wide filled with concern. It was a foreign look to me. It only added onto the strength of my confused trance.

I guess the girl panicked in my silence as much as everyone around me because she tried again, "I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm kind of confused with all these hallways, and this new school, and I was trying to find room—"

"Whatever," I cut her off, frustrated. For some reason my mind wouldn't focus long enough to form an insult but I wouldn't stand here and look like I accepted her clumsy, disrespectful attitude. "Don't let it happen again," I warned her in a venomous tone, showing everyone I was not letting this girl off.

The blonde froze in place, looking shocked, hurt, confused and all together flustered as hell. Good.

I brushed past her with a little, but still rough, nudge of her shoulder against mine. She wouldn't let it happen again.

"That's the new girl we were talking about!"

Oh my gosh. They caught up. I sighed as I saw a couple Cheerios behind me, causing hate for the new tall blonde to boil my blood.

"Is it really now?" I asked spitefully, slowing my pace since there was no use in trying to outrun them now. I couldn't lose them now… This was that stupid blonde bimbo's fault… She wasn't really giving a great impression on her first day.

"Yeah really," One of them answered unaware of the sarcasm that had been in my voice. No wonder there were stereotypes about cheerleaders…

Tiffany, another Cheerio, jumped in all too eager to spread the latest gossip. "She's from New York, I heard. Her parents moved out here for a 'change of scenery'." Tiffany added air quotation marks for effect. "Or so my mom heard, but I think that must be a cover story. No one would move to Lima for a change of scenery. I bet her dad was a big CEO of a company and cheated on his wife with his hot secretary. Then his wife found out and she threatened him with divorce but he begged that she give him another chance. So they moved to a small town to rekindle their love for each other," she sighed happily and zoned out with a dreamy expression on her face.

Oh god… I think I just puked a little in my mouth.

"Lay off the soaps, Tiffany. If you don't have anything real or useful to offer me: _leave_," I grumbled, stopping as I reached my locker. I rested my head against it for a second and then began to gently smash my head against it. These bimbos drove me mad.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tiffany drop her head in shame and the other girls looked around at each other frantically. No one knew if they had anything worth the risk of saying out loud.

"Scatter. I'll fill her in," Quinn commended them, coming up behind us almost silently. Leave it to Quinn to already have all the information on a new girl in literally five minutes.

The Cheerios were gone in seconds, knowing not to push Quinn Fabray's buttons. Even though we were both the captains of the Cheerios, Quinn was volatile. She would strike to kill. Surprisingly enough, I had more mercy on those wastes of space... Probably only because in comparison to Quinn the psycho I was a civilized human being. Sometimes I wondered why she didn't take me down because deep down I knew she probably could…

Quinn began to give me the lay down as I grabbed the books I needed out of my locker. "Her name's Brittany Pierce. She's a senior like us. She's a dancer, won a bunch of competitions in New York. She's not the brightest blub and she's a complete humanitarian type. Like full out. Her parents were hired to come here as consultants on how to help the environment and crap… She's already joined a bunch of the school's clubs that are for that kind of thing as well."

"So we don't really need to worry about her?" All we really needed to know was if she was a power hungry cheerleader or a hardcore whore. If she wasn't either then she wouldn't be any bother to us.

Quinn shrugged, nonchalant. "Doubt it. Unless Sue finds out about her dancing abilities… She'll want any fresh talent she can get…" Quinn's voice faded and I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes, but it left as quick as it had come. We didn't need any more competition. The only way we were going to get out of this dump was through cheerleading scholarships. We were on the best team in the country. So as long as we stayed co-captains and kept up our appearances and grades, we had a very good chance of getting out of here.

I softly bumped my elbow against Quinn's. "I doubt Girl Wonder is going to have time for the Cheerios when she's out saving the world. Plus, she would be squashed like a bug if she ever tried being on it," I assured her with a smirk. Only the toughest could make it on the team.

"Hey, Sandbags!" I heard a booming voice echo off the hallway walls. Sue.

I turned around to where the voice was coming from and my thoughts were confirmed. I saw Sue strutting down the hallway. I smirked as I watched the students part like the red sea. I looked up to Sue sometimes. I knew in some ways she was a basket case, but I also knew it worked. No one in this whole city dared to defy her. That was what I wanted: power.

"Oh, you're both here. Good." She praised as she came closer and Quinn came into view. "You know, I'm kind of disappointed in you two." She informed us, leaning sideways against the lockers with her arms crossed. "You're supposed to be my captains yet I heard of new blood from the lesser Cheerios. Hmm."

Quinn straightened up confidently, and a bit defensively. "We were just discussing if she was worth your time, Coach," she lied smoothly and effortlessly with her innocent smile.

Sue didn't buy it for a second. "I'll be the judge of that. 3 o'clock. In the gym. Get her in for a try out." Sue didn't wait for a response before turning on her heels, yelling insults at any student who dared get in her path.

"The little snitches," Quinn sneered.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh please, Fabray, you know we would have done the same thing if we knew we'd get on Sue's good side for it." I really couldn't care less about the new girl or the snitches. None of it would matter. I knew nothing would change even if Brittany did an audition. She was a goody-goody, change the world, bake cookies for your neighbor kind of person. The Cheerios were different. Once you entered it, you entered a dog-eat-dog world. She'd break, especially if she got in my way again. And honestly, breaking new girls was one of the best parts of school. So I was carefree.

"Did you just want to get it over with right now?" I asked, glancing at my cell phone for the time. We still had a good few minutes before we had to head to class.

Quinn shrugged. I didn't know if she had actually been listening or not because she had that scheming look on her face, which probably meant she was planning the deaths of all the Cheerios who could possibly have said anything to Sue. I could see in her eyes that she was narrowing down the list in her head. Sometimes I wondered about her sanity...or lack thereof.

I grabbed the first kid in sight, not wanting to search the whole damn school for this girl. If Sue hadn't already been pissed at us, I wouldn't even be bothering with this. I would have gotten some of the Cheerios to do it. But I knew I had to make this right so Sue wouldn't be at my throat for the next few weeks.

"Where's the new girl?" I asked the shaking freshman, giving a menacing glare and a tug on his collar, just for the fun of it. Why not torment them? High school is about learning and growing and being bullied. We had school counsellors for a reason.

"I-I think I saw Rachel Berry talking to her near the choir room," the boy stammered, keeping his eyes away from mine. It was as if he thought I was Medusa and if he looked into my eyes he would be turned into stone. Medusa might as well be my ugly twin sister. If I typed my personality up on a dating website, she and I would be a perfect match.

"Of course...Berry..." Quinn growled as if Rachel was the reason for all the world's problems. I didn't disagree though.

I let go of the kid because I was pretty sure he thought Quinn was about to dislocate her jaw and swallow him whole.

"Well, it's time for revenge then, Fabray. Let's get the girl before the hobbit can." I motivated her.

_Bam! _Just like that Quinn's mouth tilted upwards into one of the most cunning smiles I had ever seen. She twirled around and headed straight down the halls with quick determination. And that was why I was co-captain. I knew what buttons to press. Master of manipulation should have been my title.

I smirked and followed her lead, letting her do the job. Quinn thinking she was in control would give me the upper hand if we were dealing with Rachel Berry.

I swished my hips seductively down the hallways, smiling a smile that I knew would leave all the boys I passed flustered and panting for more. I smiled inwardly with satisfaction when I saw a jock almost lose his grip on a slushie and dump it on himself.

"Hey," I smirked, the trademark Santana Lopez smirk, at a somewhat new transfer to McKinley. He was already on the football team as a running back. His eyes widened in surprise and gave me a double take, blinking as if he didn't expect me to greet him. Ever.

He nervously licked his lips and stood a couple inches higher. "Hey you," he replied smoothly in a gravelly yet surprisingly sexy voice.

And just like that, he was on my list. Or at least he would be. I wasn't going to leave that fine specimen out of my black book. I left him with wink and continued behind Quinn, never lingering too long. I wasn't that interested.

"I swear she is some kind of parasite," I heard Quinn grumble as we rounded the last corner before the choir room.

And there they were, just as the frightened freshman had said. Rachel practically had Brittany pinned up against a locker, speedily and overenthusiastically talking to her. I was sure it was about the Glee Club. That damn club was so desperate...

"Man hands! Move it. We claimed her first, if that means _anything_ at all to you," Quinn spat at Rachel venomously.

_Here we go..._ I crossed my arms against my chest, giving the persona that I had Quinn's back and I was ready to take Rachel done if I needed to. In reality, I could care less about her. She wasn't even worth my time.

Rachel jumped back, startled by Quinn's voice, knowing it all too well. It was probably the voice that haunted her nightmares. But Rachel quickly recovered, composing herself, taking a step away from Brittany. She took a visibly deep breath, coolly smoothing out her skirt then gave Quinn a calm look. "Quinn, I am truly sorry it had to be this way. I, in no way, had intended on hurting you but –"

Before she could utter another word Quinn had launched herself forward towards the lockers, enraged. In a blinked of an eye, she had Rachel pressed against the lockers.

My eyes shifted in response to a movement in the side of my eye, Brittany had taken a step back and was now frozen with eyes as wide as saucers. Her eyes bounced from Rachel and Quinn struggling against each other to me and then back. She looked panicked and then like a scared mouse, she scurried down the hallway, away from danger and out of sight.

Oh for the love for God... I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes. So much for that plan. We probably had scared that girl too much to ever look us in the eye. How was she even going to consider the Cheerios after this morning? Smooth move, Lopez, great way to make things right with Sue.

I quickly grabbed Quinn's arms, frustrated, and tugged her as hard as I could to detach her from the frightened, derailed Diva.

"Let's go before Sue shows up," I hissed. Sue was known to be like a ninja and could show up in seconds. She did not appreciate any kind of reports of violence in regards to her Cheerios. She would get us out of the trouble if we needed it, especially to perform, but she would make us make it up to her for months. All of us. Even if it were only one stupid Cheerio. But we were the co-captains of the squad and we had titles to lose. I knew Quinn didn't want her title being at risk anytime soon. Plus, if Berry was the reason behind Quinn losing her spot on the Cheerios _and_ the reason Quinn lost that big oaf of a boyfriend, I didn't think she would live to see another day. If Quinn was merciful enough not to kill her, she would make her life a living hell. Even more than she already did.

Quinn grudgingly let go of Rachel, a wild expression masking her face. "Watch your back, RuPaul," Quinn warned her as I managed to drag her down the hall.

My eyes frantically scanned the crowded halls. Class would be starting any minute now and we lost the girl...

"Sue's going to be pissed," I mumbled under my breath, gripping my books a bit tighter to my chest. I was not looking forward to the wind sprints I was going to have to spend days doing because of this.

Quinn was still fuming and gave a careless shrug. "Sue's the least of my worries right now. If we don't get the girl a tryout Sue will find the girl herself, you know that. Right now, we have to figure out a way to get rid of Rachel or snap Finn back into the right mind. I have no idea what he sees in that big-nosed, undersized, loud-mouthed, overdramatic, annoying Broadway freak..."

Quinn continued to rant on about the stupid problems she thought were the end of the world and I tuned her out. Sometimes she was just about the whiniest human being in the world.

"I'm going to class," I interrupted her, walking away without a backward glance. She could come up with her own failing plan. I had to try and fix things with that blonde dancer.

Unfortunately, the new girl wasn't in any of my morning classes and must have been hiding out during break periods because I couldn't find her anywhere. No one knew where she was. I knew we had scared her off after all of interactions. Maybe I shouldn't have snapped on her in the hallway. She would have talked to me and I probably could have guilt tripped her into trying out for the Cheerios. After all, she had knocked me over and I had let her live.

I headed to lunch frustrated. Quinn was giving me no help whatsoever as she was creepily following Rachel and Finn around, trying to formulate some evil plan.

I had no idea what to do. I wasn't the kind of person you send to convince someone to do something, unless that meant scaring them into it. At least Quinn had a fake sweet side. I didn'tand I didn't desire to develop one for anyone, especially this annoying blonde bimbo who knocked me down in the hallway.

I grabbed my food and took a beeline straight out of the school. I had no desire to eat with any of the Cheerios or any jocks at the moment. I just needed to breathe before I ripped someone's head off with my teeth. I had already had enough of this day.

I plopped down under an old, storming oak outside the school. The tree literally towered outside the school making a huge, engulfing shadow over the grassy area in front of it. It was great for blocking the sun, especially at the end of spring term, when everything was getting hot and humid this was the place to be. Of course, you could only sit there if the Cheerios allowed you to. Right now, it was a crisp fall day and people were scurrying inside as if the small gusts of wind were signs of a tornado. Everyone was still so used to the warm weather... I didn't care though. It would do just fine. I wanted to be completely alone. I ripped my fruit cup open with my teeth, glaring furiously at the parking lot of the school.

"You know, I bet if you tried hard enough you could set fire to one of those cars with the laser beams I'm waiting to see come out of your eyes," I heard a soft voice say from behind me. A teasing voice.

I laughed, "I wish."

I was surprised I hadn't replied with a snarky comment, but I figured I was just too frustrated to try, but something within me told me that wasn't the case.

I tilted my head to the side to see who it was and almost grinned in surprise at the face in front of me: The long legged dancer.

She nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other, holding a lunch tray in her hands with a conflicted look on her face. Her eyes wouldn't meet mine.

"I'm surprised you had the balls to talk to me after this morning," I murmured, putting on what I tried to turn into the nice Santana charm. I let my eyes slide away from hers and turned back to look at the parking lot. I hoped that by looking away it would help her relax. I silently tried to convey the message that my laser beams wouldn't kill her, just yet.

"You actually don't scare me as much as the Glee Club girl does..." I heard her mumble under her breath. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hear it or not, but I laughed regardless.

"I don't blame you. She's a fucking nutcase," I assured her.

Brittany smiled softly and looked at the ground.

She's smiling. I made her smile. Maybe I could do this. If all it took was making fun of Berry than I was down for it.

"Do you..." Brittany started in a small voice.

I turned my head nonchalantly towards her, hope filling my insides. I knew what was coming. I saw the signals. She was nervous, glancing anywhere but my eyes. Her body moved from leaning towards me to leaning away as if it were a direct mirror of her thoughts saying, "Sit with her. Don't sit with her. Sit with her! Wait. Maybe you shouldn't." I could see her eyes flicker to the patch of grass beside me. She wanted to eat lunch with me. A warm feeling rushed through my body and I shivered. It was as if warm and cold hit me at the same time. Wow, relief has such a weird feeling.

Of course I was only relieved because I needed her to like me. I needed her to want to be just like me like all the other girls in this school. That way she would join the Cheerios and Sue would be off my back for a while. She'd have new meat to chew on for a couple weeks and I could stay under the Sue radar.

I smiled at the thought and my smile only continued to grow as I heard the blonde beauty say, "CouldIeatlunchwithyou?"

**Author's Note: How was it? Think it has potential? I got some more written so let me know whatcha think! **


	2. Maybe Not A Lie

**Author's Note: Unfortunately when I had started writing this story for National Novel Writing Month I had only completed the first chapter, so, I had to write this one from scratch which is why it took a little while. Hope you guys enjoy the new addition!**

"CouldIeatlunchwithyou?" Brittany asked in one quick breath. I smirked because she said it likeshe had to get the request out as quick as possible before her conscience could reach for it and rip it back down her throat. Somewhere in the rainbow head-banded head of hers something was telling her to turn around and walk away. I was sure of it.

I knew I should be glad for her request. I knew this was the way to get her to warm up to me. I just needed her to say yes to the tryout and then I didn't have to worry or even think about this weird blonde girl anymore. But deep down, I had come out here to eat alone. I knew I had to stick to the plan, though.

"Whatever," I said. I gave a dismissive wave of my hand, indicating to sit on the grass beside me.

Surprisingly, the girl ignored the spot I had waved to and sat directly in front of me. She crossed her legs and placed her lunch tray parallel to mine, like a best friend in kindergarten would at snack time. _Ballsy_, I thought with a smirk.

I was impressed she was willing to talk face to face with me. Maybe she wasn't some nice little girl. She could have a tough bone hidden somewhere within her. Deep within her. Maybe the dancing competitions were fierce. I wouldn't be surprised, they _were_ held in New York, the city of artistic talent. Although, she had been skittish around the yelling and the fighting earlier, so maybe she wasn't that tough. I wasn't sure what she was...

"What's your name?" Brittany asked me in a soft voice, grabbing a small bottle of orange juice off her tray.

"Santana," I answered, amused. I realized I knew everything about her and what she could do but she had no idea who I was. Funny, that was how I liked my relationships, too.

"I like it," the blonde smiled. My eyes travelled slowly down from her eyes to her lips and suddenly they were stuck. It felt like when I was a kid and tried to stick two of my fingers together with super glue. No matter how hard I tried to pull them apart, they only stayed planted together. That smile was...different. I kind of wanted to know why.

"I'm Brittany, by the way."

"I know," I replied automatically, not thinking about the words coming out of my mouth as I was too focused on _her_ mouth. I snorted, scrambling for a way to cover up the creepy way my previous comment could have come off as. "Yeah, Santana's a lot better than I originally thought my name was in Kindergarten."

Brittany tilted her head curiously to the side.

"My Abuela called me Garbage Face so often that I actually didn't realize it wasn't my name until my Kindergarten teacher politely indulged me with the shocking news that my name was actually Santana. I thought that was just a term of endearment my parents called me." I rambled.

"Your Abuela?" She repeated questioningly, scrunching her nose slightly.

"Grandma," I said.

"That's so mean, but still kind of funny!" Brittany laughed wholeheartedly.

The sound triggered a panic and I had to quickly scan the surrounding area to make sure no one saw me making the new girl laugh. That would not be acceptable, especially since she had knocked me over earlier and had gotten away with it. She was so lucky Sue wanted her...

I responded to her with a tilt lipped smile, pushing those rambling nerves away. I focused on how to eat my fruit cup. Silence loomed over us for a good for minute, giving me time to shake the weird feeling and try to think up a good way to get her into a tryout. I mean, without just straight out asking her because I knew this girl wouldn't be so easy. Easy meaning not easily convinced to do something. But like I wasn't meaning 'easy' in the sexually context. I mean it like... Never mind. I sighed. Now there was nervous rambling in my head.

I wondered if she had heard about Sue from where she had come from. If she had, this would either be much harder or much easier. Some people would die to get on Sue's cheerleading team because that meant a promise of trophies and scholarships, while others thought Sue was a tyrant and didn't treat people properly. It was true, but her method _did_ work. In the end, it was all up to if you were tough enough to handle her.

"You're quieter than I thought you'd be," Brittany murmured thoughtfully after a few quiet minutes.

I raised my head to look at her and saw her peering interestedly at me. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and just shrugged. What did she expect me to say to her? She's just some new girl... I wasn't bouncing up and down hoping to have a thought provoking conversation with her.

"Aren't you one of the popular kids?" she pondered. It seemed she was observing me. Watching me like some psycho creep. Was she another freak that came live in this hick town? I could not take another one... I couldn't wait to get out of here.

I took a deep, aggravated breath. "Yeah, so?"

Brittany seemed to sense my tension right away and stiffened, ducking her head down to look at her tray. Her nerves were wavering. _Oh crap_, I had to get her in for tryout. _Be nice, Lopez_. Let's just say being nice was not something I was well practiced at.

"I was just wondering why you would be sitting out here by yourself if you had a tons of friends inside," she shrugged in a timid manner, breaking apart pieces of the cookie in her hands.

My mouth opened but then closed again, unsure. If I had so many friends, why was I outside?

Because they weren't really my friends...

"I just enjoy the fresh air," I clearly lied. Brittany would know I was just brushing the question off, but I had a feeling she wouldn't push anything. No one would push anything with me.

"Me too," she hummed, letting it go as I had thought she would. She turned her concentration and began running her fingers delicately over the green grass at her sides with a wishful look clouding her dark sky blue eyes. "It's so different from New York here." Her voice was so soft it was almost lost in the wind.

I watched her eyes look in awe at the grassy fields around us. It was funny. I had seen these fields, these trees, every damn blade of grass and I couldn't even begin to comprehend the wonder that sparkled in her eyes.

She plucked a blade of grass out of the ground and held it before her eyes, smiling softly at it. "Did you know that there are so many different kinds of grass that there is one whole species dedicated to it in each corner of the world?" She paused and looked up at me.

"Wow," I mumbled, not really knowing how to respond. It was grass? It doesn't really have the potential for an engaging conversation.

"Did you know that grass is actually used in a lot of alcoholic beverages?" She murmured.

"Really?" I quirked my eyebrow.

She bobbed her head yes.

"Well, I guess I have a new found appreciation for grass then," I laughed, putting down my fruit cup, and replacing it with my nail file. The fruit and sugar in that thing would be enough to keep me going throughout the afternoon.

Brittany giggled in response to my comment and broke another piece off of her cookie, popping it into her mouth lazily. She didn't seem as shy as she had earlier.

"Want the other half?" She offered me with a warm smile, holding what was left of her chocolate chip cookie out to me. It brought me back to a nostalgic feeling of kindergarten.

I almost snorted but held it back. I thought of the calories that would be in that thing and replied, "No thanks."

"Are you sure? My mom made them. She makes the best cookies. Try it. After eating this, no other cookie will be the same!" She coaxed, stretching her arm out an inch further towards me.

She better be prepared to give up those cookies once she gets on the Cheerios because Coach wouldn't be allowing that thing anywhere near her lips.

"Well, I wouldn't want to ruin those other cookies. They'd be pretty lonely then. You should eat it." I brushed off, trying to be as kind as possible. Kindness never seemed to be the right way to get people to back off. Normally, I would yell a few threatening Spanish phrases at them and they'd be running for the hills, resulting in me being left alone. I didn't know why anyone picked kindness over blunt honesty.

She seemed taken aback by my answer, but then her mouth formed a wide grin. "That's true, they probably would get lonely. I didn't think about that. Okay, I'll eat this one, but make sure you eat a different one so it doesn't get lonely."

_Right. _

"So, what's up with your odd obsession with grass?" I murmured, trying to kill two birds with one stone 1) getting off the subject of cookies 2) getting onto the subject of her interests which might steer the conversation to her interest in dancing.

"It's not an obsession. People just don't realize how much a small thing like grass really affects." She paused, looking away from me and sighed. Her eyes looked discouraged. "My parents are environmentalists." She shrugged as if that statement should explain everything.

"Trying to save the world one blade of grass at a time?" I smirked, attempting to gain her enthusiasm back.

Brittany laughed, "Something like that."

Silence.

Come on. If she was such a mind-blowing dancer in all those fancy-smancy New York competitions, wouldn't she be eager to brag about herself? Wouldn't the new girl want to convince people she was good enough to be eating with one of the most popular girls in school?

"How was New York? I bet this place will be a bore in comparison." I tried again.

"I'm excited to be in a new place, actually. I can just be a normal teenager living a normal life here." She explained with a spark of exhilaration in her voice.

I smiled because she took the bait. "What do you mean a normal teenager—"

"Aren't you going to eat the rest of your food?" She cut me off. "We only have a couple more minutes for lunch."

"Huh?" I replied, too flustered by her quick interjection to get my thoughts in order.

She reached forward between us and picked up the cheap disposable fork off my tray and stabbed it into my undressed, wrinkly lettuce, cafeteria style salad. I watched her as she proceeded to raise the fork to my face with a coaxing look on her face. Her face was shadowed with a maternal look, as if she was a mother about to feed her young child. "You should eat more of your food before you run out of time." She repeated, nudging the fork forward.

I flinched backward as the cold salad grazed my lips, an automatic response. "What the hell?" I snapped, pushing her hand away from my face with such force that the fork flew out of her hand and landed a couple feet away from us. "I'm not a baby. I can feed myself."

I instantly regretted it when I saw the sapphire eyes across from mine wide in shock. She looked like a puppy that had been kicked. Shit. She probably just thought she was helping.

But who tries to feed a person when you hardly know them? We 'met' like a couple hours ago and it wasn't even a pleasant meeting. Why would you attempt to do something like that? Something so...weird?

"Sorry," I mumbled, rubbing my forehead stressfully. "I didn't mean to snap like that."

"It's fine." She responded quickly, nonchalantly, but then uncrossed her legs and stood up, grabbing her lunch tray. Clearly, it wasn't fine. "I better get going. I'm still having trouble trying to figure out my schedule. I'll need the extra time to try to find my next class," Brittany bluffed. She brushed off her colourful clothes.

I jumped up hurriedly as she turned around to leave. "I can help you find the room." I offered. I would just ask her if she liked cheerleading when we were walking. It's not that weird. I am a cheerleader. Cheerleaders talk about cheerleading. Why didn't I just do that in the first place? Because of these damned nerves that were acting up for no reason. I must have been really worried about Sue or something...

"No, I'll find it myself." She brushed off with a dismissive wave, walking forward without turning around to even respond.

_Think. Think. Think. _

My legs sprang to action on their own accord, jogging to catch up with her without thought, leaving my lunch on the grass. I didn't know what I was going to say but I knew I was going. People normally just went along with whatever I said. This was not acceptable.

"Santana!" I heard someone holler from behind me and my jog wavered. I swerved my body around quickly to see who it was, keeping myself moving toward Brittany as I went, in case it wasn't someone important. I had to get the business done with the new girl.

I saw Puck jogging over, trying to catch up to my pace.

"What?" I called.

"We got ten minutes." Leaving the words to be interpreted as they may, but I knew what that meant, my feet stopped moving completely. I weighed my options and decided I could catch up with the new girl later. Another addition to Puck's profile in my black book wouldn't hurt anything.

Puck's bare, sweaty chest heaved up and down as we finished up in the janitor's closet. His breath came in hot puffs against my face as he tried to catch his breath.

"Getting old, Puckerman?" I smirked, patting his chest playfully before squeezing myself out from between him and the utilities shelf. I lazily kicked the scattered bottles of cleaners – which had fallen off the shelf during our festivities – out of my way.

"_Hey_," he warned, but smiled anyway. "Don't write that down in your little book. I don't want the other ladies to know Puckasaurus is failing." He joked with a wink, jumping his way back into his boxers and jeans.

"I can't lie to the book, Puck, you know that." I shrugged, following his lead, redressing myself. "It demands accuracy and the truth or who would trust it?"

"Don't make me demand a round-two to make up for the last!" He threatened, walking me back against the wall. He pressed his hands deeply into my sides, creasing my normally crease-free Cheerio's skirt as he grabbed at the fabric, dipping his head to my neck, hovering there to breathe against it.

I snorted, "You probably shouldn't. Your ticker may stop ticking with a second round."

Puck stepped back, gaping, placing a hand over his wounded heart. "It burns, Lopez, it really does."

"Maybe you should get yourself checked. I hear that happens with some STDs." I replied smoothly, flashing him the trademark Santana smirk.

Puck let down his charades and laughed a loud, impressed laugh, making me panic thinking the janitor might come running, but relaxed remembering that over time we had learned these walls were quite soundproof.

"You're good. Remind me not to get on your bad side." He chuckled, leaning over to give me one more kiss on the lips.

After, he stalked over to the door then paused before exiting. He tilted his head to the side, looking back at me curiously. "Why do you keep that book anyway?" He asked me. His face didn't display a look which held a mind filled with hopeful ideas of descriptively written porn in a notebook, but dying curiosity.

I fixed my hair back into the Cheerio ponytail and shrugged. "Why not? It's a challenge for you boys. Even you were dying to have your name written in it the moment you caught word of it." I left out the part where if they were all fighting to be in it than I held the control, which somehow managed to give me power over the school.

"Any chance I can get a peek at it?" He asked. I'm sure he was trying to make a charming smile, but it didn't affect me in any way.

"Going gay? Wanting to see what guys are good?" I asked him in a snarky way.

"No, not at all. Just wondering if _you've_ been feeling gay lately. Any good lady action written up in there?" He asked with a perverted smile. Cute-post-sex Puck was gone and sex-craved Puck was back.

"Bye Puckerman," I sang. I opened the janitor's closet door and looked both ways down the hall before exiting when I saw the coast was clear. Apparently the next period had already begun.

"Wanna ditch?" Puck asked, meeting my stride. Pervert Puck was absent from his voice. He had more moods than a girl did.

"I have a test next period."

Puck slung his backpack over his shoulder with a perfunctory swing, relaxed as ever. "That's cool, I was just gonna drive to get a burger and come back anyway. Want something?"

"I'll just come for the ride." I replied with a small, but genuine smile. We turned the corner towards the exit to the parking lot.

Puck and I had a weird relationship. Before I had thought of it as more of a respect, perhaps. We both wanted what we wanted and we'd use each other for it, but we were never bitter about it. He was cool. I wouldn't admit it to anyone but he was kind of a friend these days. He was chill and sometimes we'd just ditch and drive for miles, stereo pounding, shaking the entire car and all the cars it passed. We both wanted out of this crap town and we were just trying to get through it.

"So, you see the new girl?" Puck asked through his burger-filled mouth, ketchup beginning to drip down the right side of his mouth, which he didn't seem to notice or care about, once we had arrived at the closet fast food restaurant.

Times like this reminded me why I never committed to a boy. They were gross. Yeah, sure, I was just dying to commit to a 200 pound untidy, unhygienic, inappropriate, and inconsistent douche nozzle. That would just be a dream come true in my eyes. Or not.

"Yeah," I mumbled, twirling a straw around spin the bottle style on the table. The straw hit crumbs and specks of salt refusing them to fly off the table. It was like a tornado ripping through the fast food crumb cities that where situated on the grimy table. "Sue wants me to get her in for cheerleading try-outs."

"Do it up, Lopez! Can you imagine those legs in a cheerleading skirt? Score!" Puck hollered, putting his hand up in the air for a high five, still rocking the ketchup-chin. Stylish.

I rolled my eyes. Like I said: untidy, unhygienic, inappropriate, and inconsistent douche nozzle. "You're a pig."

But I couldn't help the picture start to form in my mind. Long, lean dancer legs uncovered and revealed for all to see, thanks to the pervs who decided to invent the teasingly short cheerleading skirt. The pale, but still nice, thighs brushing against the soft red and white material of McKinley High School's colours. I could imagine the way the skirt would hug her hips tightly, giving off a nice and very tempting view of her –

_Stop_. I demanded myself, shaking my head, terrified. Where the hell did that come from?

"You're the pig. I know you just thought about it. You've got that look meaning 'I wanna take you down low'," Puck snorted, giving me another reason to call him a pig, but my sharp defence mechanism wasn't into playing games. He couldn't just go around making insinuations that I was thinking of some girl that way when I was clearly straight. Have you seen my little black book? It was full of _boys_.

"Shut up. I didn't have that look. Not that you would even know what that look looks like!" I growled at him in frustration, crossing my arms securely across my chest. I felt my blood boiling, ready to go all Lima Heights for a small comment. I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that I was in a public restaurant and I couldn't get arrested before my Spanish test.

"Mhmm," Puck hummed, cocky as ever.

"I will ends you, kid," I snapped at him. I reached across the table and snatched his basket of fries.

"Hey! Calm yo tits." He panicked, seeing what I was done. I pulled it behind me so he couldn't possibly get to it. His browns eyes began to widen like saucers. Big puppy eyes for his beloved fries. "Fine! I'll shut up about it. Just give me those back! I need those greasy babies in my tummy."

I dropped it in front of him, knowing he had let it go and leaned lazily back in my chair, pulling my nail file out of my Cheerio's jacket.

"So, is psycho Cheerio Quinn going to let her get on the Cheerios? Is she too much of a threat? From what I've heard she isn't that coordinated because she collided with _you_ this morning." Puck said, but slipped in a questioning look about the collision incident, which I was not going to get into or he was going to start making comments like 'I bet it was because you _literally_ fell for her the second you saw her.' Ass. "Then again, sometimes your little Santana glare scares people and the last thing on their mind is to walk properly." He added.

I ignored his last comment. "Yeah, Quinn doesn't want her on and I don't really either. She's a dancer from New York." – Cue Puck's overly interested eyebrow-raise. Pig.—"She doesn't seem like the Cheerio type though, so she probably wouldn't last long anyway."

Puck laughed as if there were some hidden joke in the subtext of my words. I cocked an eyebrow back at him and he just innocently popped a fry in his mouth, holding back a humorous grin.

"Spit it out." I huffed. Sometimes I didn't even know why I hung out with him other than when we were having sex.

"By 'not the Cheerio type' you mean she's the human type, right?" He said. "Like she still has _feelings_?"

"_Whatever_. Or maybe, I meant she's innocent, naive and quirky. She just has this childish persona. She isn't ready for the torture that both Sue _and_ the Cheerios would put her through." I took a deep breath. "She's freaking soft-hearted. She couldn't handle it."

I was about ready to grab Puck by his unmaintained mohawk when he gave me another amused smirk. I didn't see any humour in the comment I had just said nor had I in the other comments I had said.

"You sound like you've put a lot of thought into her well being...and her _soft heart_." Puck hinted, giving me a wink.

"What the hell is up with you today?! I was analyzing her like you would do with any of your competition," I snapped at him, threatening to reach for his fries again. He grabbed them hurriedly and cuddled the basket into his chest protectively.

"I'm only saying I never analyze their soft hearts." He shrugged openly, popping one of his saved fries into his mouth victoriously.

"I am this close" – I held my thumb and pointer finger an inch apart – "to turning this place into a Lima Heights' underground fighting club. It is a saying. It just means she's _weak_, asshat."

"Weak _hearted_, you mean?" He remarked arrogantly, holding back that annoying grin of his.

I didn't even bother trying to reply. Instead, I whipped one of his discarded fries at his face. I heard it hit straight with a greasy splat.

"Okay, okay!" He chuckled, putting his hands up in a surrounding gesture. "You're probably right. Even if she makes it onto the Cheerios, she'll leave after she realizes what it's like."

I bobbed my head in agreement, saving my breath because I was pissed off.

"I saw her helping Artie get his wheelchair up the entrance stairs," Puck commented off-handedly. "She seems nice."

"It's going to be like feeding a little lamb to hunger pack of lions." I concluded, looking away from Puck. When I thought about it, I almost felt bad. She was interested in grass, saving the world and making sure non-chocolate chips cookies weren't lonely. It was...young, innocent. It was like holding a baby for the first time, no matter who you are you want to hold the baby closely and make sure nothing happens to it, nothing ruins it, nothing stains its pure-white, untarnished personality. It was like a responsibility.

"Start sharpening your teeth, Lioness."

Puck and I made it back to school with seconds to spare. Luckily, I got into Spanish class before Mr. Schuester could mark me as tardy – who, may I mention cannot speak one word of Spanish properly. Honestly, they might as well have hired Dora the Explorer. I would have gotten more out of her and her little monkey friend. Plus, she had better hair. –

Two periods to go until the stupid Cheerio's try-outs and I was ready to either pull out my hair. I was starting to plan to throw Brittany in a bag and force her to come to the try-out whether she likes it or not. My hair was too perfect to rip out so that option quickly faded away and the latter option became more and more of a desirable possibility. Because it seemed that Santana aka Satan aka Bitch of the Year could not be nice enough to convince a _dancer_ to try-out for _cheerleading_. It should have been like asking a baby whether they want candy or not. But every time I tried something it messed up, or I messed up because my brain was a ball of goo today. By the end of today, that girl was going to think I was more of a freak than Berry was.

"_Mini J-Lo!" _

I froze in place as I walked out of Spanish class. Oh, come on.

Sue came strolling, looking superior as ever, up the hallway towards me, occasionally pausing to knock an ugly hat off a loser. "You get that try-out?"

"I..." I straightened up. Appear confident. Do not show weakness. "Yeah. She'll be there at three o'clock sharp."

"Nice work, Jugs! I'll remember that, you loyal and faithful servant," Sue smiled in the way Sue does best with pride, bluster and intimidation. She patted my shoulder as she passed me then quickened her step to catch up to an ugly hat wearing loser she had missed.

_Great job, Lopez._ Now if Brittany doesn't show up your head is going to be served on a silver platter. Sue will just make you work harder for lying _and_ not getting the new girl.

I whipped my phone out with a speed that was probably considered extraordinary.

_Do you know the new girl's schedule? – S_

If Quinn could do one thing to help, this would be it. Then she could go back to her psycho stalking of Finn and Rachel.

_She just got out of history with the dinosaur. – Q_

History. That was on the other side of the school. Obviously it couldn't have been a class close to mine. Obviously not because the universe is against me today. I took off down the hall in a jog, getting frantic looks from everyone I passed. I was sure they were thinking that a fight was about to go down or something. I would have too with the frustration and determination that was sure to be painted across my face at the moment. I fisted my hands and pumping my legs as I hastened my pace. I hoped she wasn't the kind of girl who went to class ridiculously early, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did. Then again, she did say she was having a lot of terrible with her schedule. Maybe this would be my lucky break.

Signs of her: Blonde hair flowing. Long legs moving. Colour explosion. Positivity bouncing off the walls. Brittany rounded the corner a few feet in front of me. We came face to face as I halted as quickly as possible, attempting to save us from another collision.

"Britt—" Being cut off by lack of oxygen. I heaved a deep breath in, surprisingly out of breath. Wow, was I getting that out of shape? I guess I didn't usually have to run after anyone, they usually ran after me.

"Britt? Are we on a nicknamed basis now?" She smirked.

I paused, well, more like froze, when I saw what looked like smugness in her eyes. Why was she so smug?

Heat radiated off of my cheeks and I ducked my head bashfully. Blushing. I was blushing. I clenched my teeth so hard I was sure my dentist would notice the indentations next time I visited.

"In that case, I'll call you San." Brittany grinned, perfectly straight and whitened teeth flashing brightly at me. My dentist would not mind those, I noted, staring a little too long at them.

Wait, what? San? Hold up... I was not asking for a friend here. I was never asking for a friend anywhere. I knew where that got people. Backstabbed and lonely. Not happening here. Especially with some random New Yorker who loved dancing and obsessed over grass and cookies...and had skittle smelling breath...and sky blue eyes...and unnaturally long, toned legs as if she was sculpted to be a dancer...and...and it was all just not normal. I didn't want another freak around me. Berry was enough for this whole school.

Brittany seemed to almost be able to sense my thoughts. Her bright smile slowly began to diminish and her grip tightened around the two textbooks she had been hugging to her chest. She seemed to be clenching the life out of them now. The sparkles of light and positivity in her eyes were snatched away by the thief who was controlled by my negative energy and replaced by grey dustings of anxiety. They looked exactly like right before she had ran away from Quinn and Rachel's fight or when I had spazzed about her trying to feed me. She was in pre-panic mode. One more notch and she was going to be running.

"I guess that's a step up from Garbage Face," I shrugged, offering her an accepting smile. I hoped that conveyed the message that I was not about to use my laser beam eyes on her.

And thank god, she laughed, a real, whole-hearted laugh. The sides of her eyes crinkled the tiniest bit and she ducked her head, hair canopying her smiling face. "Yes it is."

Silence.

"Are you following me?" Brittany asked slowly, raising her head and narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Because I think I've seen you more today than I've seen that boy with a puffy cloud on his head and he's been following me around all day too." She lowered the tone of her voice and looked both ways, checking to see if anyone was around us before speaking again. "I think he has secret passages in here. Or maybe a map like the one Harry Potter had. Oh no! What if he stole it from Hogwarts?" Her eyes widened in awe and fear, quickly looking around once more, thinking he'll pop up any minute now.

I snorted. "Jewfro? No, he didn't steal anything from Hogwarts. He was born with the gifts of creeping. Don't worry about him. You'll get used to him." I assured her, but she still seemed doubtful.

"What if he's a wizard and he's just making you think that with his wizarding powers?" Brittany whispered, stepping so close to me that I could feel her warm breath on my cheeks, causing them to radiate even more heat than earlier. I was beginning to feel as if I was getting sunstroke from all the warmth. I needed air.

Skittles. I could smell them again.

I leaned forward, nearing her ear, trying to get out of her breaths pathway, but passed it off as if I wanted to whisper secretively in her ear. "If he was a wizard, he would know that there's no magic allowed out of Hogwarts." I reminded her. I felt a smile actually growing on my lips from the conversation. This girl had some mind. Some kind of wonderful mind. It probably beat having one which revolved around social status and Cheerio worries. But I guess she was a dancer and artists also had big imaginations, creative minds. Each to their own, I suppose.

Brittany pulled back with a convinced grin on her face. "That's true. You're smart." She commented sweetly. I wondered if her breath naturally was so sweet smelling. It was like a fragrance that came straight from her soul because it was so endearing and sweet and it just had to project itself to those around it. It was there to intoxicate the negative and counteract their attitudes and views.

It made me completely self-conscious about what my soul would make my breath smell like. What did hell's fire smell like? I almost cupped my mouth to smell my breath, but realized where I was.

"So...not that I mind you stalking me or anything – and you know, now I'm kind of wondering if you are a witch like Hermione since you're smart like she is – but why are you following me?" She wondered, wringing her hands against her textbooks nervously.

"Yes, Brittany, I am about to admit to being a serial killer in a school hallway. Why are you so nervous? Unless you really think I'm a witch and you're afraid I'm going to turn you into a frog." I laughed freely, not realizing until after that fact that I could have used that question as an opening to talk about Cheerio's try-outs. Instead, I was standing here wasting time talking about the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

A girl stopped almost right beside us, staring incredulously at me. I glared viciously, sending the girl running. I had laughed. People were starting to notice. I straightened up, hoping to give off the superiority that Sue did.

"If you are going to turn me into something, can it be a duck?" She asked with an excited smile, but I could tell she knew I was kidding about everything. She didn't actually believe I could turn her into anything. Damn, it would have been easier to say, "_Hey, come try-out or I'll turn you into an ugly troll!_"

"I'll see what I can do." I promised, smoothing out the front of my skirt as I saw some footballers coming down the hall.

Brittany turns her head for a quick second to check out what I was looking at and then turned back around with a deflated look on her face.

_Ask now before she leaves_, my mind screamed at me. _This may be your last chance_.

"So, I was wondering if I could ask you something," I paused, waiting for permission. I leaned against the lockers, giving her my full attention now that the winking and drooling boys had passed.

"Sure, San," She said, using my newly acquired nickname. She matched my position, comfortably leaning against the lockers closet to her. From anyone else's eyes, we probably looked like two friends chatting about the newest gossips. _Oh god_, I had to get moving before people thought I was getting social with people who weren't Cheerios.

"I kind of overheard from some people saying," Lie. "that you liked dancing for fun" Lie. "and wondered if you wanted to join the cheerleading squad here at McKinley. It's really fun" Lie. "and I kind of wanted to have you there...with me." _Maybe not a lie..._

**Author's Note: "**_**Maybe not a lie...**_**"Hmm. What could that mean? We shall see! Hope you guys are enjoying the story! You guys like Puck & Santana brotp? It's perfect. I had to put it in. Let me know what you are thinking! Little Black Book worth continuing? **


	3. Dancers Dance

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for all the awesome reviews on the last chapters. Sorry I took so long to update. I'm hoping to be more committed to this story in the next few months. As of now, it is my commitment for nanowrimo, so hopefully I should get a lot done this month for it! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

Little Black Book Chapter 3 – Dancers Dance

_SPOV_

I honestly didn't know if it were a lie or not. Sometimes I got caught in my web of lies and forgot what it was like to tell someone the honest truth. So, perhaps, I was lying. Or maybe I was being truthful. After all, I did want her there. Well, I wanted her at the try-out, so Sue would be happy with me for a blissful moment, not necessary because I want her on the team. As a Cheerio, I knew we'd eat her alive. She'd be a nice tasty snack for any Cheerio who happened to be in a bitchy mood.

All I knew is I didn't want this problem to me mine anymore. And I didn't really want any more competition.

Brittany blinked slowly. Her long eyelashes brushing against her cheek in a manner that it could be described as graceful.

"You want me to join the cheerleading squad?" She repeated. Her voice sounded like a faint whisper in the loud hallway. She seemed quite astonished. If she was such a great dancer, you'd think she would have been used to offers like this. But her eyes looked overwhelmed with the idea of my offer. Her eyes wouldn't stop blinking so blankly.

"Yeah, it'll be great!" I grinned. I nodded enthusiastic ally, hoping to ignite her normally excited vibe.

It had the opposite effect. Brittany's warm smile slowly faded into a deep frown and as her lips dropped as did my heart. I knew what was coming.

"I can't…" Brittany whispered. Her voiced sounded like it regretted the words, but obviously it was just a nice person's sympathy or something. If she really wanted to do it, she would have said yes. I knew that.

I took a long deep breath. Miss Pillsbury had tried to teach me how to control my temper once. She said whenever I felt like Snix is trying to make an entrance, I should take long soothing breaths. It didn't normally work, but I gave it a try anyways. "Why?" I asked.

Brittany tightened her grip on her school binder and ducked her head downwards, giving off the pretense of timidity. "I'm new in town and I don't want to overwhelm myself with responsibilities," she stated in a voice which sounded overly rehearsed.

"Did you get like an injury or something?" I asked, exasperated. Why the hell wouldn't a _dancer_ want to _dance_?

Brittany kept her head down and shook it. "No, I'm just still getting accustomed to this school. It's my first day."

"I heard you signed up for like a hundred clubs this morning," I snorted, giving her a cocked eyebrow.

She looked up at me quizzically. "What?"

"What?" I echoed, confused.

"How do you know that?" She asked me. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously. Those sapphire eyes were not so friendly anymore.

_Oh, damn_. I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed. I was supposed to be giving off the persona of a normal person, not a psychotic queen bee with ten minions feeding her information.

"Oh," I laughed offhandedly. "Rachel from Glee club was going on about how you were all for after school activities and stuff, so I figured you'd love this."

Brittany smiled in a devious sort of way, leaning further onto the locker. I wasn't sure if she was buying my bluff or not. Her eyes locked with mine, making me uneasy. Some people were good at judging people honesty by looking in their eyes. Hopefully I didn't have a tell or something.

"Wow, you know I dance and you know I joined a lot of school clubs. You seem to know a lot, Santana, especially things I never told anyone here." She murmured with a confidently questioning stare.

I flashed her the Santana-smirk and shrugged innocently. "I learn fast."

She may look naïve but she didn't seem to be buying any of my bull. "I guess so. But my answer is still no and I need to get to class. Sorry!" Brittany said, giving me an apologetic smile. She pushed off the lockers smoothly.

"I'll give you the day to think about it!" I called after her but instantly regretted it when multiple heads turned to me in confusion. "_To think about what she did…_" I grumbled pathetically to the people staring.

"Have a good day, San!" Brittany called back with a mischievous grin on her face as she picked up her pace.

"_San?_" I heard someone whisper.

_This new girl was a crap load of problems that I did not need right now_, I thought spitefully as people continued to gape at me.

I spotted Quinn in the hall after departing from Brittany. She was alone in the girls' bathroom. I stalled in the doorway for a moment when I didn't see her look up. Her eyes were looking straight into the mirror. Normally, I would think she was just being self-obsessed or about to apply makeup, but this was different. She looked like a zombie. Quinn's eyes were completely empty. It looked like her mind had escaped her body and left it there to die.

"Hey," I said quietly.

She jumped almost two feet in the air and put her hand dramatically over her chest. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" She yelled at me. Her hazel eyes weren't empty anymore, they burned angrily into my soul.

"Sorry! I was standing here for a couple minutes. It's not my fault you didn't notice." I apologized, not very nicely, but it was an apology either way.

Quinn breathed deeply and rested her hands on the bathroom sink. Honestly, she looked worse than this morning. Maybe she actually had a bad hangover.

After a few moments of composure, she spoke, "Did you get the blonde?"

"No."

Quinn turned quickly with a cheetah-like speed. "You couldn't get her to join?!" she hissed.

I gave a lazy roll of my eyes. "Nope, your turn," I mumbled nonchalantly, crossing my arms.

Quinn leaned over to me with wide, wild eyes. "I have a lot of problems on my mind right now, Santana," she sounded genuinely concerned, but she wasn't. She really didn't have any problems. She had the classic white-girl life. She was daddy's little princess and got everything she wanted. I had no sympathy whatsoever.

I sighed. "Yeah, okay, like what? You're afraid you're going to lose that over-sized gassy baby, that's it! You're co-captain as well. Do your job." I snapped and walked out of the washroom.

Last night was fun. I got to party. I was able to add a couple guys to my little black book. I had fun and when I woke up this morning it felt so nice. It was one of those mornings that was absent of all worries. My mind told my body that this was going to be an amazing day and I was ready to face the world.

Then, I guess, the world changed its mind. The world was not on Santana Lopez's side today.

The sun was warm. Anytime you sit in the sun, you restore your hope in your day. Maybe the warmth of the sun will turn away all the cold souls and problems that you may face as the day continues. Everything just seems to look better in the sun too. A tree is a tree, but when the tree's leaves are dancing in the wind and the sun is shining through them, it creates a show of celebrating shadows on the parking lot of the school. It looks so much better. It's not just an old paved spot for cars; it's a stage for nature to play with, but only when the sun is out.

I closed my eyes and lay back on the thick grass, basking in the warmth. I had come out here with the intention of going home, but I realized that Quinn had driven me here this morning. Normally, I would walk home, but today I wasn't feeling up for it. I didn't have the motivation to leave.

Deep within the back of my mind, buried under a pile of lies, I knew it was because of Brittany – the new girl. A little voice kept sneaking up on me saying "_Get her on the team_" or "_Sue told you to_", but I kept thinking what the hell? It's not like I normally did everything Sue told me to. Then my mind would switch to: She took new recruits so seriously. And come on, with one glance at her, anyone could see those long legs were created to dance across McKinley High's stage with me and the rest of the Cheerios. She was born to capture attention and inspire people with her dance. I knew this without watching her dance. It was in her voice. It was in her walk. It was in her posture. Most of all, it was in her eyes. Her awestruck eyes danced across every scene she entered.

I wasn't stupid. I knew she would help us get to nationals. That was the reason I couldn't just leave her alone.

"I've got it, Santana. Even with my own issues, I've managed to solve all of yours," I heard Quinn pipe cockily as she strolled over to me.

"Tying her up isn't an option. Believe me, I've thought of that one," I muttered bitterly. I didn't budge from the comfortable spot on the grass.

Quinn huffed as she loomed over me, blocking out my precious sunlight. "I've got a cleaner way to do it. We won't have to touch her at all."

For this, I opened my eyes, interested. "What's your plan?" I asked with a quirk of my eyebrow.

Quinn smiled when she saw she had caught my attention. "Green Club is at three o'clock sharp –"

"What the hell is "Green" club?" I laughed.

She ignored me. "Which might be the reason the new girl wouldn't want to do a try-out. She knows she's busy, but I know a way to get her to the try-outs.:

"Spill it, Fabray."

"Attention to all those involved in the Green Club: Your meeting has been moved from the Science Lab to the Gymnasium. See you there!" Quinn sang in an overly sweet tone through the microphone used to give school announcements on the PDA. Normally, we would have used Sue's microphone to make a school announcement, but today, we were forced to use the secretary's microphone, so Sue wouldn't find out about our scheming.

The school secretary, Mrs. Lorre, gazed at us in a confused fashion. "I had no idea you guys were involved in the environmentalists groups at the school," she commented, but it came out as more of an accusation.

"Sure, we're cheerleaders. We root for everything," I lied, leaning against the side of her desk. "Let's go recycling, let's go." I cheered with a large smile.

Mrs. Lorre gave me a cocked eyebrow as she clicked her pen. "Give me a C. Give me an L. Give me an A. Give me a double S. That spells class!" Mrs Lorre mocked and pointed towards the door.

I laughed. "See you later, Mrs L." She was real, unlike most of the noisy or fake teachers in this place.

"If I see either of you littering, I'll be reporting you to your group, just so you know." She called after us with an overly enthusiastic laugh. She knew we were feeding her a heaping bowl of bull, but apparently she just didn't care enough to stop us. That is what a great educator is!

"I think that lady should retire or something. She's completely off her rocker," Quinn mumbled as we exited the room.

I ignored her comment and threw my backpack over my shoulder. It was almost the end of school and I couldn't wait to see if our plan could be executed without any faults.

I heard the sound of loud foots and sighed as Rachel Berry swerved around the corner. "I should have known it was you guys. I guess I just couldn't recognize your voice when it had the tone of a human being. Let alone a nice human being!" She yelled, throwing her dramatic hands into the air.

Quinn rolled her eyes and passed her smoothly. "Don't know what you're talking about, Man Hands."

Rachel was steaming as she quickly followed after Quinn. I trailed behind the two. I was going to get in the middle of those two cats in heat, fighting over the only male cat in the school - or at least in their opinions. "You know what I'm talking about! I saw you walk out of the office, Quinn Fabray!"

"We visit the office daily, we're troubled children," I commented lightly when Quinn didn't reply. I didn't want Rachel to have time to make a second announcement or it would ruin our plan. The longer we distracted her, the better.

Rachel snorted obnoxiously loud, "Yeah right. Sue doesn't let Principal Figgins lay a hand on you."

"Ew! I'm pretty sure that's against the law, you sick perv." Quinn spat, but her eyes danced deviously. "But I guess you're into that sort of thing. I heard you had a thing for Mr. Shue."

Rachel's face went blank and then slowly turned white. "I-I wasn't saying it like that and you know it," she huffed, crossing her arms.

Sometimes this was the best part of my day, seeing Rachel Berry standing there wide-eyed and speechless. I could do without the stench of Quinn Fabray's ego, but I kind of got used to that.

"Does Finn know about that?" I questioned with a quirk of my brow.

Rachel swallowed hard and her eyes ping-ponged back and forth from Quinn to me, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

Eventually, she straightened up and smoothed out her carpet-like skirt. "I would just like to know why you are trying to change the location of the Green Club meeting. I'll have to go through a lot of trouble fixing that confusion."

"I don't know why you're even in that group. If you had any concern for the world, you would cover up your face. It gives children nightmares," I smirked smugly, having fun for the first time today.

"Yeah and your nose pokes out at least one little creature's eye every day. The Green Club should start an Anti-Berry campaign," Quinn joined in.

Rachel's chin quivered but she kept her eyes straight on us, unwavering.

"I don't have time for your harassment today. I just need to fix the location problem." Rachel said, turning on her heels. She was headed straight for the secretary's office.

"Don't you dare." Quinn warned her.

Quinn always had a voice that haunts nerds and losers alike through the night, but there's a certain tone she uses time to time that could scare the living crap out of anyone. Her voice dropped a few octaves and gave even me chills. Rachel froze, because if it gave me chills, she was probably pissing her pants.

She fisted her hands, but didn't turn around. "Why?" She asked.

"Because this is my business. You've been a little too involved in my business lately so I wouldn't push it. Unless you want me to get into your business. I can pull enough skeletons out of your closet that Finn will never look at you again without looking horrified." Quinn threatened viciously. "The football team is already thinking of kicking him off the team. I've been persuading them to keep him on the team, but with one word with them, they'll kick him off. He'll be devastated."

Rachel turned around swiftly and looked Quinn hard in the eye. "Why haven't you done that already?"

Quinn gave a perfunctory shrug. "I have hope he'll come to his sense about you soon. I don't want him to lose his status if he's just going to come right back to me, as he always does."

Rachel pressed her lips together tightly. "If you really cared about Finn, you would let him go."

"You don't know anything about us," Quinn snapped.

"Well, I don't give a crap about Lumps the Clown, Rachel, but if you go in there in a say a word on the PDA, I will make sure every football player hates him by tomorrow morning," I interrupted them before they could go even farther. "So turn around and go back to class. There are only like three people in your stupid club, text them." I said, knowing she wouldn't have Brittany's number.

"Also, stay away from the new girl," Quinn warned her. Her voice was composed now.

Rachel's eyes went from scared to confused. "What does she have anything to do with this or you?"

"We claimed her," I said.

Rachel let out a laugh - which she quickly covered with her hand. "You think she'll actually want to join the Cheerios? Have you met her? I spoke to her for five minutes and she gave me an entire lecture on the importance of unicorn protection in our community!" Rachel said.

"We have ways of persuasion that you don't," I shrugged nonchalantly.

"What a spot in your book? Because I don't think she wants to make out with you, Santana," Rachel laughed.

My eyes snapped to meet hers. I felt my vision tint to red. What did she say?

Rachel took a step back quickly, putting her two hands up in surrender. She had realized what she had said. "Okay, I'm leaving, but just know that you'll ruin everything good about her if you do this. She isn't like you guys." Rachel mumbled quickly, but heading down the hall.

My eyes narrowed as she turned the corner to another hallway. "Who the hell thinks there are girls in my book?"

Quinn snickered and leaned against her locker. "Who cares if people do? Guys'll think that stuff is hot. You'll probably get more action for that dumb book of yours if they think you sway from side to side from time to time," Quinn said.

"I'm not gay," I grumbled, opening my own locker to shove all my papers and school books in the locker. I didn't plan on doing any homework.

Quinn turned from her locker to look at me cynically. "No one said you were, Lopez, chill out. If you get touchy like that people will start thinking you are."

"Whatever. Let's get under the bleachers before everyone gets out of class." I slammed my locker shut and strapped my backpack back on. My little black book was proof I wasn't gay.

Quinn gave a wholehearted laugh and pushed me playfully on the shoulder. "You're sounding gayer by the minute!"

I rolled my eyes and gave her a shove back. "Shut up, you're the one thinking gay."

Quinn laughed and we headed for the gym. We had just enough time to get situated before Sue came in and plopped down at her try-outs table. I crossed my fingers that our planned had worked. If Brittany didn't show up in the next few minutes, Quinn and I would both being hearing an ear full from Sue at the next Cheerios practice.

But just as the clock struck three o'clock sharp, Brittany entered the gym.

She looked around slowly, quizzically, for a moment before Sue broke her concentration.

"You must be Brittany S. Pierce!" Sue shouted.

Brittany jumped about three feet backwards before she blinked and gave a wide-eyed nod.

"I'm so glad you came. I had a feeling my little Cheerios would fail me, but here you are with those perfectly sculpted dancer's legs," Sue said.

Wow, if that wasn't creepy, I didn't know what was. I crossed my fingers that Brittany wouldn't be as scared of Sue as she was of Quinn or Berry. But let's be real, Sue was the crazy person I had ever met in my life. I had no idea how she hadn't been fired by now. I guess if you're a champion, no one questions your methods, or sanity.

Brittany gripped her backpack strips tightly and looked around the room. "Is this the meeting for Green Club?" She asked politely.

Sue's eyebrows rose. "Why the heck would I be at one of those meeting? Those kids tried to ban the use of motorcycles in Cheerio performances. They said Cheerleaders didn't need to pollute the world. Obviously they have every won a national trophy." She laughed and put her arm around Brittany's shoulder.

"Oh, well, I was actually looking for the Green Club," Brittany mumbled hesitantly.

Sue paused, half way to her table. "You're not here for a cheerleading try-out?"

"No," Brittany answered slowly, but blatantly.

Sue's face contorted for a moment but then shaped into a friendly expression. "Oh my blonde little specimen, don't try and fool me. I was trained by the Japanese in facial expression recognition. If you're feeling gassy, I can tell from a quirk of your eyebrow. And I know for a fact from the records I stole from Figgins, that you were in a special arts school in New York. It says here," Sue grabbed a file off of her table and flicked through it for a moment before continuing, "that if you remained on the track you were on, you would be a shoe-in for Julliard."

Wow, I hadn't known she was _that_ good. I couldn't even imagine getting into Julliard. Jealousy and confusion fought each other out while I stared at the blonde across the gym. I didn't understand her. She was a dancer, obviously. She must have worked her ass off every day to get to a point where a teacher was suggesting Julliard. If she lived and breathed dance so much, why hadn't she brought it up once? Especially when I was hinted at it so much.

Brittany gave Sue a weak smile. "Yeah, but that was when I was in New York."

"You break a leg?" Sue asked.

Brittany shook her head. "No."

"Then I don't see what has changed since then. You're a dancer. Dancers dance."

Brittany's nail picked absentmindedly at her backpack strap. She looked flustered as she stared at Sue.

Sue plopped down onto her red fold up chair and watched Brittany expectedly. "If you want Julliard, the Cheerios is the only thing in Lima that will get you there. If you join, you'll be promised a win at Nationals. We're the best team in the country, Blondey."

"I don't really like dancing anymore," Brittany said honestly. She offered Sue a small shrug of her shoulders. "Sorry."

Brittany began to turn around when Sue bolted up out of her seat like the pyscho she always was. Quinn snorted and leaned back against the wall behind us, "Here we go."

"Hold up there, rainbow. You don't have to be a dancer for the cheerios. It's none of that interpretation fluffly stuffy. We do choreographed butt-kicking. You cheer. You don't sway." Sue tried. "You're a blonde, like me, and Madonna. You belong in the winner's circle."

Brittany didn't turn. "I just don't think-"

"I saw you and Sandbags out at lunch today," Sue commented.

Brittany's nose scrunched in confusion and I almost spoke out loud to inform her who Sandbags was. I had to bite my lip.

"Santana is on the Cheerios, too. Look at her, she's got lots of friends. What's a better way to enter the in crowd than by joining the Cheerios? Everyone who's popular in this school is either on my squad or the football team. You must want to make a good impression on the school. A cheerio's outfit will get you that." Sue told her. She was grabbing onto anything she could think of at this point. I didn't know if I had ever seen Sue scramble like this before.

Brittany turned and for the first time in the conversation she looked a little conflicted. For a do-gooder, I was surprised she'd be interested in the thought of popularity.

"Would you be okay if I thought about it for a little while? I'm still trying to get used to my class schedules," Brittany offered, hesitant.

Sue grinned and slapped Brittany on the back, making Brittany mirror Sue's smile. "Of course. Get comfortable and come talk to me when you're ready."

"Don't you wish she'd stay that nice?" Quinn mumbled.

I nodded in agreement. Once you were on the team, she wasn't going to sugarcoat anything. That would be when Brittany would get completely scared off.

But for now, I was just glad that she wasn't my responsibility anymore.

Brittany nodded at Sue and said her goodbyes before heading out of the gym.

Sue sat down at her table and grabbed her megaphone, pressing it to her lips. "Sand bags. Young Sue Sylvester!" the words bounced off of the gym with a loud echo.

"How the hell did she know we were here?" I asked, confused, as I got up and climbed out from under the bleachers.

"I see everything, ladies." Sue answered me with a presence of superiority.

Quinn and I walked over to the table, waiting for our thanks for bringing her in here.

"You failed your mission and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You stink of failure and it's making me nauseous," Sue stated, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Are you kidding me? We got her here for you. That's what you asked us to do," I snapped at her, glaring. I had not just wasted my whole day on that blonde girl to get chewed out by Sue now.

Sue slapped her hands down on the table, hard. "I wanted her on my Cheerios! Instead, I was given a waste of five minutes of my life talking to a tall, mute rainbow, who _didn't_ want to join my cheerleading squad!"

I stared at her in disbelief. How was it our fault that she didn't want to join the Cheerios? If a dancer doesn't want to dance, then there's got to be some reason, especially since she's being so freaking stubborn about it all. If Sue couldn't convince her than there wasn't anyone who could.

Sue's eyes targeted mine with the intensity of a madman, "For some reason beyond my comprehension, the blonde has a fondness for you, sandbags. I want you to show her what it's like to be a Cheerio. Convince her. Bring her into the Cheerio circle. I want her."

_Are. You. Kidding. Me._ I could feel my body on fire with rage at just the thought of having to cater to another person's every need. How the hell was I supposed to convince someone who would hate being on the Cheerios to like it? She didn't seem the kind that enjoyed sitting in a circle of red and white skirted girls gossiping. Maybe she'd join if we promised her we'd sponsor a starving child or something...

I sighed but attempted to focus on the positive as Miss wide-eyed-crazy-ginger Pillsbury always told me to do. At least she wasn't a bitch. At least she wasn't a gossip. At least she wasn't a jabbering pyscho like Sue. At least she wasn't like everyone else in this school... At least she kind of amused me, in an intriguing, weird kind of way. She knew alcohol was made from grass, okay? No dumb Cheerio on the squad knew something like that.

"Fine," I grumbled and turned on my heels. But I wasn't going to hang around for more of Sue's bull.

"If she doesn't join, you're not my captain anymore." Sue stated in a neutral, steady voice.

My feet froze to the cold, concrete floor of the empty gymnasium. For ten seconds, there was no noise made in the room. Everything was still, waiting for my response. I felt Snix rising, but counted to ten. 1. 2. .3 .4 .5...

"That's bull! You wouldn't take me down from captain position. I've worked hard for that!" Snix spun around and yelled at Sue. My hands fisted and I could hear my blood pumping in my ears. My anger rose even more as I saw Quinn's eyes holding a new spark in them. If I was kicked down, she would be the only captain, the Queen of the McKinley. I wasn't sure my little black book would even keep me up in the social ladder if I was only a regular Cheerio. Sure, I would still be considered cool and wanted, but not irresistible. I would lose so much.

Sue shrugged, nonchalant. "You won't know if I will or not. You don't get her and just see what happens." With that, Sue stood up and stalked proudly out of the room as I huffed and puffed, feet still glued to the concrete title beneath my feet.

I walked the hallways of McKinley High slowly. I was tired. It was one of those days that you just wished you had never woken up in the morning, you know? I had just wanted to come to school, breeze through the day, and then go home and sleep. Maybe get a couple entries into my black book. Like every day. I hadn't wanted to walk into school, collide with a blonde, dancing goddess and then have my whole day blow up in my face. Nothing had gone right and my brain was a plate of scrambled eggs. My feelings had been everywhere all day.

First, everyone was staring at me for not going all Lima Heights in Brittany's grill this morning. Second, Sue forces her on me as a burden for the day. Third, the dancer wants nothing to do with dancing or cheerleading - which makes no freaking sense. Everything could have gone down so quickly and smoothly if she was a normal person who liked doing what she did. Fourth, my brain was jumping around and confused. One second it's fond of this new girl. The next, I just want to strangle her. What's messed up most of all is when all I wanted to do was be alone at lunch, I didn't mind her intruding. I didn't mind her company. That was one thing that had been boggling my mind all day long. Every person - even Quinn who I was closest to - bothered me. I just got so tired of them and their drama. I didn't care about their gossip. I wanted popularity. I wanted fame. I wanted power. But I didn't want all the annoying, high-pitched-voice, high-pony-tailed girls to come along with it. Sometimes they were helpful, the other 99% of the time they were a pain in my ass. They were the annoying itch that you couldn't get rid of. It would drive you so insane you thought you'd lose it. The worst part about them, though, was that at any time they could snatch all I had worked for up in a moment of ignorance. I had to watch them. It was all so tiresome, which brings me to what messed up next.

Fifth, Brittany says no to my offer after being a complete Santana sweetheart all day. Finally, even after tricking her, she says no to Sue. Now, Sue wants me to be her new best friend until I can convince her to join. Every day is going to be like today. I'll have this ten thousand pound weight on my shoulder and a big flashing sigh - called Quinn - reminding me that if I don't fulfill my mission I will lose my top place on the Cheerios. There goes my exit plan for after high school. With all this crap hitting the fan, I won't be getting out of this damn town. I won't be getting any scholarships for the Cheerios if I'm at the bottom of the pyramid.

I took a deep breath and stopped at a classroom door, where I heard voices coming from. Judging by the amount of dorks, recycling bins, and the colour green, I guessed this was the Green Club. I leaned against the door frame and stared through the small window of the door, watching the group meeting in progress.

All the desks had been pushed to the back side of the room and everyone was seated on the floor, all Kumbaya like. Brittany sat Indian style, sitting near the middle of the circle, conversing excitedly with the dork beside her. She was holding a sign, which contained about ten tons of sparkles, announcing the dangers of littering. On the side of the poster there was a large orange cat, standing opposite of a smoking man, with a thought bubble hovering over the cat's head. _"Every time you drop a cigarette, I get more and more addicted to them." Your actions affect the animals'. Keep our world safe and clean,_ the poster said.

I smirked at that. I'd pay to see a smoking cat.

I wondered why she would enjoy this more than dancing or popularity, though. Every single person in that room probably got a slushie in the face _at least_ once a month. Who would want that? I'd always pick being the person throwing the slushie over being the person receiving it.

Just then, Brittany's head pivoted, and turned towards the door. Her eyes met mine and my stomach dropped as I was caught in the act of staring. My eyes jumped from looking downwards to meeting her eyes. It was one of those situations where you knew you were caught, but you weren't sure if you should play it off as if you actually weren't looking. I would look like a dumbass either way. Eventually, I let my eyes stay on hers. I offered a small smile and shrugged.

Brittany returned it with a much greater smile and waved her hand at me invitingly.

"Come in," she mouthed overly enthusiastically.

If my mind wasn't already in a tizzy, it was at that moment. Would I have ever entered that room without her invitation? Hell to the no. But today, I didn't care. As my hand twisted the doorknob, I thought, _what the hell? This day couldn't possible get any worse._

**Author's note: Santana entering a room full of raving environmentalists? That's gonna be interesting. What did you guys think? Let me know!**


End file.
